KARACHI: The second Karachi Literature Festival is going to be organised on February 5 and 6 here at a local hotel.Oxford University Press (OUP), British Council and a prominent writer and translator Asif Farrukhi, are the organisers of the event.OUP MD Ameena Saiyid, British Council Sindh and Balochistan Director Syed Mashhood Rizvi and Asif Farrukhi told journalists at a joint press conference at OUP here on Monday.The festival aims to promote Pakistani writers and rejuvenate link of people with literature. The festival is open to the public and free of cost. It features authors writing in English, Urdu and Sindhi.It provides a platform for dialogue between Pakistani and the rest of the world, promoting contemporary writing and thought from Pakistanis, and bringing contemporary writing and thoughts from around the world to local Pakistani audiences.Saiyid said the festival is being organised to honour our writers, raise their profile and bring them closer to their readers. Pakistan is part of the world and we cannot isolate it from the world. There is need to present Pakistan’s soft image in the world, she added.
The festival provides an opportunity to put Pakistan on the map as a country rich in culture and creativity. It will feature talks, panel discussions, creative writing workshops, book launches, and readings by renowned authors from Pakistan, UK, USA and India.Special events at this year’s festival are aimed at discovering emerging talent through a short story writing competition, developing writers through a creative writing workshop, and paying tribute to Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the year of his 100th birth anniversary. A prize of Rs 100,000 will be given to a Pakistani/ Pakistani-origin author for the best non-fiction book in English, published in 2010 – Dailytimes
